In order to not distract from the flow of the story, the following is a list of notes I took upon awakening from the dreams. I did not take notes at the first few dreams, and the data is therefore sketchy.
a. The Elves were tall and muscular similar to the Masai of Africa but with a more willowy appearance. Their skin was neither dark nor light, but appeared like the lightly tanned skin of certain Hispanic groups. Some of the beings had dark hair, black or dark brown I couldn't tell in the forest light. Some were fair-haired. Interestingly, no red hair appeared amongst any of the beings.
b. The Clan Heads didn't make decisions for the village. They were there to offer guidance to young ones and to help those who needed help. Kind of like the old 'he who would lead let him serve' adage. The Clan heads were greatly admired and respected and if any of them lost respect, they ceased being the Clan head. The village came together to make major decisions.
c. Some of the Elves lived in caves or other natural homes. Elves did not cut living wood to make their homes because they didn't want to "bring pain" to any living creature, including trees. They carved "dead" wood, trees that had fallen due to natural disaster, for furniture. They used naturally occurring roots to build the "walls" of their homes. They neither cut nor removed the roots from where they grew but rather incorporated their homes into the rootfall.
d. Like Tolkein's Rivendell, the furniture was Celtic in design and Celtic knots decorated everything possible. At first I saw all of them as a myriad of designs with no two alike. After a while in the village however, I found that each Clan had a special design that designated it from the others. When everyone came together for social gatherings and meetings, they could tell their chairs and tables apart by the designs. In successive dreams, I learned that the knots were a pneumonic device, a kind of writing of sorts, that told of the family's history. Contrary to Tolkein's version, however, Elves were not immortal.
They lived for longer periods of time than humans which gave fuel to the legend. They also named their children after the parents so that Cuinean's son and grandson would also be named Cuinean. Brothers could also carry the same name. This was confusing for me at first, but eventually I learned that they distinguished each other by a slight pronunciation change between individuals, and that they had 'personal' names which they used only amongst themselves. No one was allowed to tell the personal name of another individual. Names were power and Elves did not have the right to give away another's power. I record his name, therefore, as Cuinean, but his real name was not given to me.
e. Fictive kinship abounded among the elves even though some tribes were nomadic. When they came together at certain times of the year (the nomads passing through the villages) they greeted each other like long lost relatives. Further, the Elves were affectionate and males hugged males and females hugged females. No group was subservient to another and the nomads seemed to have equal standing with the villagers.
f. Clan heads were both male and female and there appeared to be no stratification or caste systems. I wondered at the Elvan system as to how menial labor was performed. I noticed that everyone contributed on a more or less equal basis to the maintenance of the village. On one occasion I laid a small branch on the main path to see what they would do with it. Every one that came by moved the branch off the path. I would have continued the experiment except Cuinean came quietly up behind me and asked the purpose of my antics.
g. The most outstanding feature of the Elves was that they seldom quarreled. They did not possess greed of any sort. If one Elf admired something another had, the owner simply gave the possession to the second Elf. I soon learned to be careful in what I admired. Perhaps because they owned few possessions, greed did not exist. As far as I could tell, there were common rules in that, for instance, no Elf would think of asking for a chair from a family since their knot design would have no meaning for him. They admired each other's work, but in such a way as to not prompt exchanging it. Their conversations were very subtle and I never did get the nuances. I have heard that the Chinese language is complicated and I would guess Elvan is similar. The main difference between Elf and human language is that the Elvan language is both spoken and pictured. Because pictures accompany what is said, adjectives and adverbs are non-existent.
Another factor in the lack of greed is that Elves did not own nor create jewelry of any type. Jewelry distracted from the natural beauty of the Elvan being and they wanted to enjoy the 'full essence' of each other. Also, they felt that metal belonged to humans because fire is at the heart of it and fire was a human invention. Elves did not use fire as they did not wish to bring pain to trees by burning them.
h. An Elf returned to the village after visiting a distant human village and was very ill. Cuinean said that human food was poisonous. Both he and his lifemate took turns caring for the ill one. I was asked to help as I had displayed some skills in healing. The entire family of the girl and several nearby friends all came to help as well. Each brought different gifts. Some brought healing herbs from distant woods and some brought gifts to cheer her up. Several came just to hold her hand and tell her how she was cherished in the village. I marveled at the open affection the Elves had for one another.
This affection manifested in a rapid healing of the girl and her illness went away. Cuinean further explained that all village members worked together to bring about healing and that was why no Elves were scarred nor had distorted limbs and bodies. My personal theory is that this constant acceptance and love of all the beings in the village somehow resulted in each person growing up to be beautiful both physically and emotionally.
The girl had apparently been raped and now carried a child. A discussion ensued as to whom would care for the child since the girl had no life mate. The Elves had a very low population growth to balance their longetivity and children were therefore seen as precious gifts. Human children however, Cuinean explained, were demanding and could seldom be taught the grace of Elves. Even though this child would be half Elvan, if it could not be taught the quiet 'Way', the child could one day betray the village by lacking the deftness necessary to keep the village hidden from human eyes.
The village could not in good conscience send the girl away nor part her from her child. In the end it was decided that the girl's baby would be the responsibility of the entire village.
i. In many ways, the Elvan peoples were both complex and simple. They spoke directly of things and never found need for superfluous conversations or dialogue. Their pictures filled in what dialogue lacked. Humans, Cuinean explained, found Elvan dialogue abrupt and often interpreted it as harsh because they could not see the pictures. I perceived that humans probably had the capability but had simply not chosen to develop it to the level of the Elvan tongue.
j."Time Hendge". Time was like a huge circle with the middle being what we experienced as the present. There were some beings that could travel to any time simply by stepping in and out of the circle. Elves had once possessed the ability but had abandoned it because time stepping went against the natural order of things. Death, for instance, could be avoided by stepping out of the center before it occurred. This had resulted in beings living past their time and thus being alone because their friends and family had passed on.
k. One of the most remarkable qualities of the Elves was that each individual's value was that of being themselves. Unlike humans, they did not place value on a person's craft, physical appearance, nor status within the community, for status did not exist as humans know it. Their concept of status was to be loved by the most people possible. Being loved by a number of Elves meant you were kind, gentle, and loved back.
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